, 1887-03-12
SICKNESS IN The TENEMgNTs.


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Sickness next to enforced idleness is
the great foe of the poor. 1t is far
worse than intemperance because it as
sails the thrifty as well as the debased.
and prostrates the bread WHINE and the
mother upon whom depend the support
and care of the whole family. Death
finds his richest harvest among children;
sickness most afiicts their elders. The
records of the Demilt dispensary for
twenty-five years show that 2G1 ,515
children were treated against 331 ,402
adults. OF the second total the females
were 80 per cent. in excess Of the males,
which well illustrates how u%nsanitary in
lucnces tell most upon women, who are
constantly at home or who work at I'M
wholesome trades.
The report of the New York O%rthopoe-
die d%ispensary and hospital for 1888
shows that 147 patients treated were
cured and 1903 were discharged as
relieved" But where are such pa
tents to gol They are too weak to work,
and the noisy tenement, with its cramped
quarters, is not a fit place for them. One
can scarcely imagine greater discomfort
than that of the convalescent amid the
noise, foulness and disorder of the average
tenement rooms, where cooking, wash
ing and other domestic duties must be
carried on, and where quiet, pure air,
repose, careful nursing and nourishing
food, all 50 indispensable to the patient
recovery, are entirely wanting. Only
those who have visited the sick in tene-
ments and found them ~listless, weak and
wretched, often with no company or the
~ ninnol,tn Of ,,riou fratf,tl ohilIran
or drunken husbands, with all the tumult
of the street. the cries of peddlers, the
roar OF the elevated railroad, the clatter
of sewing machines, the uproar of noisy
children at play and the sounds of quar-
reling and fighting from neighboring
rooms, and has seen the coarse and
tasteless and ill prepared food which is
their only choice, can appreciate their
misery.
One of the greatest needs in all our
large cities is a home for convalescents,
where the worthy poor who leave the
hospital weakened by long illness, with
no immediate prospect of earning bread,
if indeed work can be found, can obtain
quiet, comfort and proper food and
nursing. Such an institution should be
located in the country or at the seaside,
and would be q vast benefit to the COM
munity.
The following circumstance illustrates
the ill effects of tenement house life upon
health: A d%ispensary physician of large
experience expressed his surprise that
m recover from confinements SC
easily in tenements. A mother will be
able to sit up i'll a day or two after u
birth, and they rarely rest abed longer
than a week A woman nurse, how
ever, told a different story. Necessity,
she said, forced mothers to forego proper
rest, and a large proportion suffered
permanent injury in consequence. Nc
male physician could truly know the
real state of the poor, because he could
not gain their confidence as a woman
would. Patients frequently complained
of the harshness and want of con-
sideration of d%ispensary physicians. In
one case a doctor made a woman get out
of bed and come into the front room, SO
that he could examine her tongue instead
of calling for q light. The poor are
specially sensitive to any lack of con-
sideration of their feelings.
Many families become destitute be-
cause the mothers cannot go to work
from having to nurse sick children.
Another common cause of distress is the
sickness of mothers who in health could
easily support their families. The sad
dest of cases belong to the latter class,
where poor mothers are found sick in
bed, some of the children also sick and
all suffering for the necessaries of life.
During seasons of depression many
parents are compelled to seek employ
ment for very young children. In thirty
nine cases investigated in an industrial
school the 50 or So thus earned weekly
by the children was the sole support of a
whole family.-New York Journal.